The University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus (commonly referred to as UBCO) is a campus of the University of British Columbia, located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Home to approximately 8,410 undergraduate and graduate students, the 209 hectares (516-acre) Kelowna campus is located in the interior of the province, in British Columbia's scenic Okanagan Valley.[1]

The current campus for UBC Okanagan was originally used by Okanagan University College. The university college was founded in 1989 as a part of a plan by the government to improve access to post-secondary education in the Southern Interior British Columbia. Originally degrees were awarded in partnership with other universities, but by 1995, the university college began granting degrees in its own name. Starting in the late 1990s, Okanagan University College began lobbying efforts to gain full university status.

In December 2002 the British Columbia Progress Board submitted a report to the provincial government, recognising the need to expand post-secondary education in the Okanagan.[2] The board, chaired by then University of British Columbia president Martha Piper, recommended that the province extend “the mandate of an existing provincial University to Kelowna…”.

In March 2004, BC Premier Gordon Campbell and the UBC President Martha Piper held a press conference, announcing that OUC would be dissolved. Okanagan University College’s university operations would be consolidated at its North Kelowna Campus and would come under the control of the University of British Columbia. The other programs and campuses of Okanagan University College would form a new community college, which would later take on the name Okanagan College. The OUC Board was reportedly not invited to the press conference and had not been told in advance of the imminent demise of OUC Board and removal or the termination or the majority of the OUC board members.[3]

According the Ministry backgrounder released at the time, the affiliation between UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan would be “based on the highly successful University of California model” and that “UBC Okanagan and UBC Vancouver will each have an independent senate to set academic priorities for their respective institutions, based regional needs and priorities. At the same time, they will share a common board of governors, with strong representation from each region.”[citation needed]

As of December 2014, UBC's Okanagan campus is represented on the UBC Board of Governors by Curtis Tse, Dr. Michael Treschow, and Shannon Dunn.[4]

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2012)

Engineering, Management and Education (EME) Complex

Student residences

As of 2011[update] UBC's Okanagan campus is undergoing a rapid CA$450 million expansion. The Charles E. Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, University Centre, and Arts and Sciences buildings were completed. Later in September 2011, Engineering and management building was completed. The most recently completed building is the medical school building which was completed by end of the year 2011. The second Arts and Science building will include a new live animal testing facility. In addition, there are various student residences in various stages of construction. All construction was originally set to be complete by September 2010, later projected to be completed about a year and a half past that date.

The Okanagan campus currently has two sororities and one fraternity. The sororities are Theta Phi and Alpha Omega Epsilon. The Fraternity is Sigma Phi Delta. Alpha Omega Epsilon and Sigma Phi Delta are both International Organizations and have membership restrictions based upon faculty (Engineering students for Sigma Phi Delta,[6] Engineering and Technical Science[7] students for Alpha Omega Epsilon). Theta Phi is a local sorority open to all faculties.[8] The Okanagan campus does not allow Greek housing, so none of these organisations have an official house or room on campus.